Panasonic’s DVD Suit Against CMC Covers 3 Claims

A lawsuit by Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) against Taiwan’s CMC Magnetics covers three patents related to recordable DVD technology, according to the court complaint.

Panasonic filed the lawsuit against CMC last week in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, but a copy of the complaint or details were not immediately available.

The three patents named in the complaint are: U.S. patent 4,847,132, which covers a protective layer for a reversible data storage disc; patent 5,790,487, which relates to optical data recording media; and patent RE 37,185, which covers an optical recording head for use in an optical disc data storage system.

Panasonic asserts that CMC and two U.S. affiliates, Hotan and KHypermedia, infringed on all three patents. The company is asking the court to award damages relating to the infringement and an injunction against further infringement.

CMC, which is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of recordable CD and DVD media, couldn’t comment on the lawsuit.

“We haven’t received any information from them regarding this matter; therefore we have no comment at this time,” said Sharlene Lin, a CMC Magnetics representative.

Panasonic said last week that the lawsuit was filed after talks between the two companies, which had been ongoing since 2004, broke down.

-Martyn Williams, IDG News Service (Tokyo Bureau)

(The IDG News Service’s Dan Nystedt in Taipei also contributed to this report.)

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